Waldmont, Wilhelm, Burke, Fogg and Montgommery land in Fort Collingswood, the capital of the British Colony on Venus.
After setting themselves up in a hotel courtesy of Wilhelm and Waldmont's seemingly endless line of credit (all except for Reverend Foggg who lodges at the church with the bishop) the team make the acquaintence of another Explorer's Club member, Captain Forsyth (Ret) who now works for the Colonial Office.
They discuss how they will proceed with their investigation into Venusian safaris into the deep swamplands, with a view to seeing if any are implicated in recovering the Venusian Death Flowers used by the Brotherhood to manufatcure the dread Red Sands toxin.
Montgomerry decides that he will use all his powers of investigative reporting to see what he can turn up in the lower quraters of the town, and he is spectaculalry successful, finding three names on note, three well-known men who have led safaris which recovered Venusian Death Flowers.
The first name is that of Alwin Otto, a belgian rare flower collector who seems able to spend a lot of money on his safaris given his rather niche interests. His safaris would seem to be funded by the Etchardian Bank, which is headquartered in Venusstadt, capital of the German Colony.
The second name is that of Leibrecht Berthanhouser, a German pharmaceutical representative. Longshoremen reprot that his Death Flowers have been going missing before they can be shipped.
The third name is that of Jóska Scabolick, a Hungarian noble with a prickly temper and what amounts to an obsession with his honour who is the head researcher for the Zoological Foundation. Longshoremen report that his Death Flowers have also been going missing from the loading docks.
The team relocate to Venusstadt after finding out that Alwin Otto plans to depart on safari within a week, and make their desire to join his safari known. Otto is pleased to have become known more widely as a successful rare flower collector and offers places on the safari for the six members of the team - at an exhorbitant price. Wilhelm and Waldmont open their purses again and Otto is even more impressed.
During the negotiations, Otto conveys Waldmont to the Etchardian Bank in order to establish a financial presence in Venusstadt with Waldmont's letters of credit drawn on LLoyd's of Syrtis Major.
During this visit, Waldmont is introduced to the bank's president and majority share holder, Mathias Etche, who invites the team to dinner at their convenience. Etche seems to have a close working relationship with Otto in Waldmont's opinion, bolstered by observing Etche and Otto in earnest private conversation.
Etche offers Otto and Waldmont an iced(!) drink and departs on bank business.
After a few days the party board an airship which ferries them to Lake Hindenberg, where they join twenty Lizardman porters, six human guards armed with pistols and clubs, sundry supplies and enough canoes to provide the second stage of transport into the deep swamplands where the rarest flowers may be found.
Once deep in the swamp, Otto has everyone beach the canoes and the safari continues on foot, with the porters navigating the shallowest channels between islands of matted vegetation overgrown with giant Cycad ferns.
The heat and humidity are beyond oppressive and the team are soon feeling the effects of exhaustion, each breath seeming not to draw in enough air. They sweat but there is no breeze to carry off the moisture and cool them, and the stink of rot is almost overpowering.
The safari gradually opens up into a long line, with Otto far in the lead and out of sight most of the time as he blazes a trail through the greenery, hacking away with gusto belied by his size, on the track of whatever he hopes to recover. The team of course hope this will be Venusian Death Flowers.
Hours into the safari the team, now in the rear of the march, are alerted by Captain Forsyth that they are being stalked by a pack of Venusian raptors when he spots them about to pounce upon a lone Lizardman guide and opens fire witgh his trusty revolver, killing one of the beasts.
Waldmont and Wilhelm also open fire, but to little effect. Montgommery, handicapped by his fear of lizards, is suddenly confronted by a raptor when it leaps up to him, and he panics and freezes. Reverend Fogg grabs the lone porter and yanks him back to safety at grave personal risk. Burke fires and stuns a raptor, Forsythe fires but misses.
The pack now attacks the party, running and leaping to the attack, but fortunately they only manage to wound two members of the party, Fogg and Forsyth. The combat turns nasty, with Waldmont dropping his rifle, useless thanks to the proximity of a raptor, and drawing his pistol. Forsyth retreats to fight another day and manages to dodge the attack at his back.
But the hero of the piece has to be Reverend Fogg, who demonstrates the very best of British Pluck when he punches a raptor in the snout and kills it outright. Before his teammates can register their astonishment, he does it again! Two vicious dinosaurian attackers killed in a demonstration of expert pugilism and sustained British Courage Under Fire!
Suddenly there is only one animal left, which has the bright idea of running away, and Wilhelm is finally free to deploy his healing nebulizer mask, curing Reverend Fogg and Captain Forsyth of their bite wounds.
Otto, on becoming aware of the fracas, orders camp be made for the evening on a large, relatively dry islet.
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